We spent Christmas Day at Terry & Carol's with a dozen other people. She made a wonderful turkey dinner and it was a great day. Our first Christmas at home in Texas was most enjoyable.
Kelly and family arrived late Friday evening. It was two long days of driving for them and they were all very tired so they quickly went off to bed.
In the morning I made a big breakfast for everyone. The three girls wanted manicures and pedicures so I took them to the salon and then went to grocery shop while I waited for them. We had invited Terry & Carol for dinner because Ted was putting a beef tenderloin on the rotisserie. We had a lovely dinner and visit. They even brought the girls Christmas cards with money. That was so generous of them!
On Sunday after Mass we went to Terry & Carol's beautiful home so the kids could see it. Then they took us to the country club for brunch. It was such a nice atmosphere and great food. Later, Carol and I took the girls to Charming Charlie's to do some shopping for accessories. They ended up with MORE stuff compliments of me and Aunt Carol. But girls are such fun to shop with.
On Monday we took off for Moody Gardens in Galveston. We had not been to the island since Hurricane Ike so we wanted to ride around a bit. I was amazed that we saw lots of boats still laying on the side of the road. I'm not sure what their owners do about getting them repaired and back into the water. A lot has been cleaned up and repaired but there is much more to do. This is a picture of the Flagship Hotel that lost its ramp from the highway. There is also a big hole in the wall clearly visible. The other is what is left standing of another building that had stood over the water.
We stopped at a Mexican restaurant that was very authentic. Everyone but us spoke Spanish but we muddled through. I ordered a burrito and it was a foot long and about five inches wide! I barely was able to eat half.
Then we went to Moody Gardens. Our first stop was the IMAX theater. The show was a Christmas story that none of us had ever seen. Next we went to the special effects theater and saw a condensed 4D version of the Polar Express. We got sprayed several times from snow, ice, hot chocolate, etc. The 3D version along with these special effects was great.
We visited the Aquarium which is what the girls were most interested in. There are many different exhibits in addition to the aquariums and we spent a lot of time here. I especially liked this moray eel and the penguin exhibit.
Our last stop was the RideFilm which was a Disney type ride with Santa who was late. We traveled via film and chair movement through the world at breakneck speeds. By then it was late and the Christmas Festival of Lights were all on. We didn't have time to do the 3/4 mile walk but we saw a lot of them as we walked to the parking lot.
We came home to some really well done ribs that were in the crockpots. I had started them on low close to 10 hours before. No one needed a knife! I quickly heated some beans, put frozen french fries in the oven and made cole slaw. I didn't even eat because I was so full but everyone else did. We spent the evening watching Hancock and it was around midnight before we all turned in.
I think today will be a "seat of our pants" type of planned day.
1 comment:
Looks like everyone had a fun time!
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